


Going Home

by DesertVixen



Category: Dungeons and Dragons (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 16:15:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Home is where your heart is... but not always where you expect to find it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Going Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sealgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sealgirl/gifts).



> To my recipient: 
> 
> You asked for Eric being himself, and for something a little different. I hope you think this one delivers!

It was funny. 

All the time they had wandered in the Realm, they had thought of nothing more than getting home, of going back to a world that wasn’t constantly trying to kill them while they carried out a quest that they did not even truly understand. There had been good moments and bad moments, but they had somehow managed to do what Dungeon Master wanted them to do.

They had defeated Venger. 

Only, they hadn’t defeated him as much as they had saved him from himself. 

It would be stretching the truth for Eric to say that once Dungeon Master had explained that Venger was his son, everything had started to make sense – they were, after all, talking about Dungeon Master – but certain events had definitely made more sense, such as their adventure in the Dragons’ Graveyard. There, they had been forced to make a choice between killing Venger and saving him. 

Yet, when Dungeon Master had opened the portal and given them the choice, they had actually hesitated for a second. 

Now, two months later, Eric wondered if they had made the right choice.

\---- ---- ----

They had found themselves sitting on the Dungeons and Dragons ride in the dark, with the sounds of other people talking and complaining around them. 

Then, a scratchy voice had come over the ride’s intercom system. “We apologize for the delay. The Dungeon Master is experiencing technical difficulties.”

Eric had no idea how long they had been in the Realm – more than a few months of wandering around – but apparently in the real world, it had only been a matter of minutes. 

After another minute, the ride began again, whirling them past animatronic dioramas and bad special effects. In each of them, Eric thought he recognized adventures they had lived through. There was even an animatronic Venger, hands raised to cast a spell on the unwary. 

When the ride ended, the six of them got off, allowing themselves to be carried along by the crowd. 

Hank pulled all of them together off to the side. “Did anyone else notice anything…weird…in there?” He asked softly.

“You didn’t dream it all up yourself,” Eric replied.

Sheila shivered, then moved as if to pull her cloak more closely around herself. Of course, she no longer had a cloak – or the mini-skirt deal she had been wearing in the Realm, Eric noted with a twinge of regret.

There was a moment of awkward silence, everyone looking at someone else to see who would start, then a girlish squeal made Bobby turn around.

Eric was somehow not surprised to see Terri run up to them as Bobby shouted her name. The dog was there as well, greeting all of them with a friendly woof.

Bobby reached into his pocket, and Eric was again not surprised to see him pull out a golden locket. After all, it belonged to Terri, the girl who had joined them ever so briefly in the Realm, before they sent her home. They hadn’t been able to follow her, because they had been forced to destroy the portal, and its enchanted maze too.

“Here,” Bobby said as he held the locket out. “You dropped this.”

Terri took it, eyes shining. “I knew I’d get it back.”

Terri’s appearance broke the ice, and the next few minutes were a rush of chattering, shared memories, and laughter. Then Eric held up his hands. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I think we should continue this conversation over fifty pizzas or so.”

Hank pointed towards the exit gates. “Follow me. There’s a great pizza place across the street from the amusement park.”

Naturally, Eric thought, they followed Hank. It had sort of become a habit now.

\---- --- ---

The pizzas were delicious, although by the time the group left, they were starting to get unhappy looks from the restaurant staff. Eric figured they would change their tune when they got to the table and discovered that he’d left a twenty for the tip. Objectively, it had only been a day or two since he’d dug into a pie with extra pepperoni and mushrooms, but it felt like so much longer.

His path home took him past Jimmy Whittaker’s house, and he could see the little punk sitting at his desk, scowling at what Eric assumed was the homework he still hadn’t finished. Eric supposed they should count their blessings, since with their luck, Whittaker would have been on the ride with them.

Eric decided there was no point in telling Whittaker what a jerk he was, since after all he had never even known that they were gone. He hoped he had a major nightmare, though. Maybe something about being enslaved in a city full of demons.

And he might have tagged Whittaker a little harder than was strictly necessary during a baseball game at the park the next weekend.

Three times.

Then he had felt better.

\---- --- ---

The problem was that there were only so many small luxuries he could appreciate before he realized that he didn’t want them as much as he had when they had been stuck in the Realm. 

No one except them knew what they had gone through – and it wasn’t the sort of thing that they could really talk about. They had all been acquainted with each other when they got on the ride, but they hadn’t really known each other like they would come to know each other. 

Now that they were home, they were all slipping back into the places they had occupied before they went to the Realm.

Hank and Sheila were an item, of course. Bobby had always tagged along with his older sister, so no one ever commented on it. Terri now made an easy fourth, made them a complete unit that didn’t need anyone else. 

Diana had her gymnastics, and if she was withdrawn from the group, Eric suspected it was because she was looking at the faces of boys she met, looking for Kosar. Starfall had changed her in ways that no one could see – to the outside world, she was still the dedicated athlete and student.

Presto had more confidence than Eric had ever known him to have, although he had abandoned practicing card tricks. After all, he had done real magic and saved them all. He didn’t need the silly magic tricks anymore. There was a wistfulness in his eyes now and then, and Eric knew Presto was thinking about Varla. 

He seemed to be the only one who didn’t fit back in his place – spoiled rich boy who used his sarcasm as his shield. It was no longer enough. He knew there were some people commenting on the changes, but the two people he wanted to notice the changes barely even seemed to realize that they had a son. 

\---- --- ---

The idea was just crazy. He couldn’t believe that after all they had done to get out of the Realm, now he wanted to go back. 

He missed it.

Maybe it lacked certain amenities, like hot showers and pizza with extra pepperoni and mushrooms, but there he could make a difference. Here, he was nothing special.

He didn’t have any idea how he would get back.

Eric wasn’t all that surprised to find that he was apparently the only one who wanted to go back. He sensed that Presto was thinking it over, but while his friend missed Varla, Presto’s parents would actually notice if their son was gone. 

He was going back – or at least, he was going to try to go back, even if he would be on his own.

\---- --- ---

Eric had made his decision, and he had spent an entire week soaking up the material things that he would miss. He had come to realize that things were really all he would regret leaving behind. He regretted that his parents would likely take a week or two to figure out he wasn’t there, but that was something he didn’t have the power to change.

He got in line for the ride. Either something would happen, or it wouldn’t. Eric had no idea if there was something he could do to make it happen, but he figured it was unlikely. In this, as in all the time they had spent in the Realm, he was at Dungeon Master’s mercy.

Eric found himself holding his breath as the car passed the dragon. This had been where everything got crazy on their other ride.

Nothing happened.

Eric sat woodenly. He had been so sure that something would happen that as the car rolled on, he had to fight the urge to jump out of the car.

They were getting ready to pass the animatronic Venger when it happened. The figure turned, as Eric figured it probably did about ten thousand times a day in the course of the ride. Only this time, he saw bluish-white lightning shoot from the robot’s hand, and he swore that he saw a smile playing on the sardonic face.

Then everything went dark.

\---- --- ---

When he opened his eyes again, Eric stood in front of a sprawling palace that seemed ever-so-faintly like something out of the Thousand and One Nights. His armor and shield were comfortingly heavy, too heavy to be anything but real.

Eric wasn’t surprised to find Dungeon Master standing there. He half expected to see the redeemed Venger, but he was nowhere in sight.

Ramoud and Aisha stood with Dungeon Master as well, more resplendently arrayed than when he had seen them last. 

“You are back to, how do you say, shake things up some more?” Ramoud boomed. 

“I was hoping that maybe your offer was still good,” Eric said, hoping his voice wouldn’t betray him. When they had run into Ramoud before, Eric had been very tempted by Ramoud’s wish to keep the six of them with him. 

“Of course! Did I not say what luck it would be to have a son as well as a daughter?”

Eric found himself enveloped in an exuberant bear hug, and he gave himself up to the moment.

“Welcome back, Cavalier.” Dungeon Master’s lighter voice brought him back to the reality of the Realm. “You will find that there are indeed tasks waiting for you here.”

Eric hoped maybe this time, the instructions from Dungeon Master would be a little more clear.

_Not welcome back_ , Eric thought. _Welcome home._

**Author's Note:**

> Episodes referenced include, but are not limited to "The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow", "City at the Edge of Midnight", "The Last Illusion", "The Dragon's Graveyard", "Child of the Stargazer", and the unaired script for "Requiem".


End file.
